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BATON ROUGE – Two and a half years after an initiative to form the city of St. George in southern East Baton Rouge Parish failed by 100 signatures on a petition, organizers once again are bringing the effort back.
On its official Facebook page Friday, the group announced... more »

WATSON – Jon Bridgers, the founder of the Cajun Navy 2016 nonprofit organization, will be one of the some fifteen people invited to join First Lady Melania Trump while President Trump gives the State of the Union address this week.
Bridgers, of Watson, was invited by the president, the... more »

BATON ROUGE – City leaders canceled a proposal to add a property tax to fund raises for police officers, it appears.
WBRZ political reporter Mark Armstrong tweeted Wednesday, momentum for the measure slowed and Councilman Matt Watson, who initially brought the idea to the council, removed it from the... more »

BATON ROUGE- The Baton Rouge Police Department's deputy chief of police has been reassigned at the end of a three-year stint in that job.
David Hamilton was appointed deputy chief in 2014, for what was established as a three-year term. Hamilton will return to rank of sergeant. The incoming... more »

BATON ROUGE – The mayor has interviewed three of the five candidates vying to be the city's next police chief and interviews with the remaining two are scheduled for later this week, WBRZ learned Wednesday.
Myron Daniels, Darryl Honore and Robert McGarner have met with the mayor. Between now... more »

BATON ROUGE – The mayor appears to be losing another key member of her administration.
WBRZ learned Wednesday, Janene Tate is set to become the director of communications for the Southern University System. Tate is currently the mayor's spokesperson, handling media requests and availabilities. Tate is essentially the city's... more »

BATON ROUGE – President Donald Trump has nominated Brandon Fremin to the post of US Attorney for the Baton Rouge area.
Fremin will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy released a statement about Trump's nomination of Fremin:
“Brandon Fremin is an... more »

SAN JUAN, Puertro Rico - A Louisiana delegation is checking on state National Guard soldiers and assisting with local government operations in a quick trip to this battered island territory this week.
WBRZ is traveling with the group, which includes Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards.
A team of... more »

PLAQUEMINE - New Roads Mayor Robert Myer will resign effective 9 a.m. Friday.
The move comes after a Thursday evening hearing at a Plaquemine courthouse. In the hearing, Myer plead no contest to felony malfeasance charges for using the city’s credit card illegally for personal purchases.
Myer will... more »

BATON ROUGE – In an advisory about an upcoming news conference, the mayor's office said there will be an announcement about a new Chief Administrative Officer.
The mayor has been without a permanent CAO since the candidate she hired - Troy Bell - quit amid reports of a questionable... more »

BATON ROUGE – Calls for oversight of the Baton Rouge Police Department grew Wednesday, nearly a week after a WBRZ Investigative Unit report found officers on leave were able to accrue extra duty pay.
Typically, officers on leave for some reason are not allowed to work as a police... more »

BATON ROUGE – Federal authorities have announced new measures to address violent crime in Baton Rouge.
At press conference Thursday, U.S. Attorney Corey Amundson detailed a number of steps the Department of Justice is taking to combat crime, including a new "strike force" force to target violent criminals.
... more »

BATON ROUGE – A state lawmaker and former city official is asking for the Louisiana Legislative Auditor to investigate extra-duty assignments within the Baton Rouge Police Department.
The request comes after the WBRZ Investigative Unit reported last week, officers on administrative leave were still collecting payment from extra duty.... more »

BATON ROUGE – In an unprecedented request for a mayor of this city, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome said she will solicit the help of State Police to get a handle on violent crime.
Broome's remarks came during a sit-down interview with WBRZ and the station's chief investigative reporter, Chris... more »

CENTRAL – Central High School will have the national anthem play at its homecoming pep rally Friday, after outraged families responded to an announcement that the school planned to skip the song.
Sandy Davis, the assistant superintendent, said the original decision to not perform the anthem was made "amid... more »

BATON ROUGE – Southern University selected Lafayette-based Advanced Biomedics, LLC, to handle its marijuana cultivation and production.
Southern and LSU were assigned the state's marijuana grow operation.
“...We are excited about the opportunity to enter into this venture that has the potential to bring health benefits to improve... more »

GONZALES – The attorney for embattled Ascension Parish President Kenny Matassa argues in newly-filed court documents, the bribery case against Matassa is unwarranted because the man he is accused of bribing not to run for office was not a real “candidate” under state law.
Matassa was indicted on charges... more »

BATON ROUGE - Amid concerns of outdated flood maps governing building codes in East Baton Rouge, Metro Councilman Buddy Amoroso is looking to place a moratorium on subdivisions and rezoning for developments with property larger than about an acre.
Specifically, Amoroso seeks to temporarily ban developments with a property... more »

BATON ROUGE – Twelve people have applied to be the next police chief.
WBRZ obtained the names of the applicants through a public records request this week. The names were released Thursday. The names are of those who applied and are not vetted or necessarily eligible for the position,... more »

LAKE CHARLES – Southwest Louisiana is expected to be one of the places the president will visit on a weekend trip to storm-ravaged areas.
President Donald Trump will travel with wife Melania Saturday. The Trumps will also be in Texas.
Trump also pledged $1 million of his own... more »

BATON ROUGE – The mayor's office announced a series of meetings aimed at selling a property tax proposal to voters.
Earlier, the mayor announced plans for a property tax that would raise about $500 million to be used on roads throughout the parish. WBRZ.com previously highlighted which roadways would... more »

BATON ROUGE - Amid multiple requests for a state investigation into the BRAVE grant program, U.S. Senator John Kennedy sent a letter to Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome voicing his concerns about the allegations.
In the letter, Sen. Kennedy says "the purpose of the BRAVE contracts is to reduce violent... more »

BATON ROUGE – Nine contracts associated with the BRAVE program have been suspended, WBRZ Chief Investigator Chris Nakamoto has learned.
The contracts in question are tied to controversial deals made with Mayor Sharon Weston Broome's administration. The contracts are part of a group that have been questioned since contract... more »

BATON ROUGE – There are at least two requests for a state investigation into Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome's handling of the BRAVE grant program. Those in charge of the BRAVE program today said they had no idea the contracts her office doled out existed.
Monday afternoon, the... more »

BATON ROUGE – The mayor has parted ways with crime activist “Silky Slim” after he made controversial comments at Wednesday's Metro Council meeting.
First questioned by The Advocate newspaper, “Silky Slim” remarked that justice came after Alton Sterling's death when a gunman opened fire on law enforcement, killing three... more »

BATON ROUGE – The mayor's new property tax proposal goes before Metro Council for its first appearance Wednesday.
The council is expected to introduce the tax and debate whether or not it should make its way to a parish-wide vote on the November ballot. Voters then would have the... more »

BATON ROUGE – Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie is leaving the helm of the Baton Rouge Police department, WBRZ Chief Investigator Chris Nakamoto has learned.
EBR Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome had been looking to hire a new chief since she was elected last year.
Dabadie submitted a... more »

BATON ROUGE –The Southern University Board of Supervisors has decided to uphold the firing of Brandon Dumas, the former university's vice chancellor. His last day at the university will be August 10.
Dumas' termination was discussed at the board meeting held on Friday. The possibility of appealing his... more »

NEW ROADS – Mayor Robert Myer will go to trial in early 2018 on charges he used the city's credit card improperly.
Myer was indicted and a judge swiftly issued a warrant for his arrest on malfeasance and abuse of power charges in August 2016. At a hearing on... more »

NEW ORLEANS – People likened Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters' packed show in New Orleans overnight to propaganda and were frustrated with the second half of the show being devoted to Waters' hatred of President Donald Trump.
Attendees told WBRZ, Water featured images of war and protests on... more »

HAMBURG, Germany - Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agree on one aspect of Moscow's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign: The issue has become a hindrance to better relations. That's according to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who says the U.S. and Russian presidents had a "robust and lengthy"... more »

NEW YORK - Polarizing right-wing writer Milo Yiannopoulos has filed a $10 million lawsuit against a New York publishing company over a canceled book deal. Yiannopoulos resigned from the conservative website Breitbart News this year after comments he made about sexual relationships between boys and men. In video clips, he... more »

BATON ROUGE – A Southern University alumnus and community news and opinion website publisher chastised the school's administration for its handling of mounting issues on campus – most recently a sex tape purportedly leaked amid a scandal involving a high-ranking campus official and an underling.
BREAKING: Southern announced it... more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Louisiana U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise is out of the intensive care unit at the hospital where he's been since he was shot last week.
ABC News confirmed he was out of ICU but still in the hospital. Friday, he was listed in “fair condition.”
Scalise,... more »

BATON ROUGE- Governor John Bel Edwards announced a permanent Louisiana State Police Superintendent today at 11 a.m.
The governor appointed interim superintendent Col. Kevin Reeves to the position full time.
Reeves' appointment makes him the official head of the State Police, a position he's been filling since Mike... more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - State agriculture chief Mike Strain stressed the need for more attention on old infrastructure in a recent meeting with the president and vice president.
Strain was part of a meeting with White House officials last week. Details of the visit were released Monday.
Strain discussed... more »

UNITED NATIONS - British billionaire Richard Branson is calling President Donald Trump very "naive" for withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, saying he failed to recognize that clean energy is cheaper than coal and oil and is going to create "massively more jobs." The business magnate, climate activist and philanthropist... more »

ST. PAUL, Minn. - U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine's youngest son was among eight people charged for allegedly disrupting a March rally in support of President Donald Trump. Linwood "Woody" Kaine, of Minneapolis, was charged Friday with one gross misdemeanor count of obstructing the legal process and misdemeanor counts of fleeing... more »

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas' Republican House speaker says he won't work anymore on a "bathroom bill" targeting transgender people, putting the hotly debated legislation in jeopardy. House Speaker Joe Straus said Friday it was "absurd" how much time lawmakers have spent prioritizing efforts to pass a North Carolina-style law that... more »

BATON ROUGE – A handful of people were removed from the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council meeting Wednesday afternoon when they tried to forcibly sway the conversation away from city business and toward a political discussion about Alton Sterling and the Baton Rouge Police Department.
According to council... more »

BATON ROUGE – Following a lengthy investigative report by WBRZ Thursday, the parole board rescinded a convicted killer's scheduled released.
Samuel Galbraith was sentenced to 71 years for the death of Karen Hill, a 21-year-old woman he kidnapped, tied to at tree, raped and shot in the head. Hill... more »

BATON ROUGE- Two elected officials in East Baton Rouge Parish are calling for the Governor's Office of Elderly Affairs to investigate the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging. The letter was drafted one day before the Council on Aging washed its hands of a questionable will that was written on... more »

BATON ROUGE - An East Baton Rouge Metro Councilman is trying to fix a traffic issue in the Woodland Ridge neighborhood, but he says it could take a while. The city's traffic engineer said they have to first gather traffic data in the congested neighborhood to help narrow down the... more »

BATON ROUGE – The man who spearheaded a competitive production schedule that filled Baton Rouge with celebrities will leave his post as head of the city's large film studio in the coming months.
Patrick Mulhearn posted on Facebook , he is resigning from Celtic Studios at the end of... more »

DENHAM SPRINGS – Councilman Chris Davis resigned from his seat on the city's governing body.
Davis resigned, he said in a letter, because damage to his family's home after the August flood was too great. Davis lived on Oakwood Drive, off Range south of I-12. The are was inundated... more »

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump wants the House to vote on the health care bill, and Republicans say a vote will occur Friday. White House officials had a simple message to a divided House Republican caucus on the bill: "Let's vote." Republicans emerging from the closed-door meeting Thursday said they... more »

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House Oversight Committee says an intruder on the White House grounds was able to "look through" a White House window and "rattle the door handle" before being apprehended last week. Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz tells CNN he was told by the Homeland Security Secretary... more »

BOSTON - A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to time served after pleading guilty to posting on an FBI website that he planned to kill the president of the United States. The U.S. Attorney's office says Andrew O'Keefe, of Mansfield, will be under supervised release for five years after being... more »

ADDIS – At least three businesses with ties to Louisiana – one of which is based in the Baton Rouge area – are interested in the president's plan for a wall between the United States and Mexico.
Some 600 businesses have signed up as interested vendors for a pre-solicitiation... more »

BATON ROUGE – In an unusual letter sent via certified mail to WBRZ Friday, Judge Trudy White apologized for the use of a character in a 2014 re-election campaign video that many people interpreted as Judge White pandering to criminals with a message she'd help them get off.
The... more »

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The fight over healthcare took a powerful turn Tuesday morning when a high-ranking Republican in the U.S. House likened people's decision about healthcare to purchasing the latest gadgets.
“A mericans have choices and they've got to make a choice. So maybe rather than getting that new... more »

BATON ROUGE - In a plea to the governor, the Council of Student Body Presidents expressed their concern over "constant cuts" to higher education.
More than 30 student body presidents from Louisiana schools, including Louisiana State University and Southern University, issued a letter to Governor John Bel Edwards and... more »

BATON ROUGE - State Sen. Dan Claitor of Baton Rouge is one of two state lawmakers working to have State Sen. Troy Brown removed from office after he pleaded no contest twice to domestic abuse charges over the last year.
Claitor, a Republican, and Sen. Sharon Hewitt, also a... more »

JACKSON, Miss. - The Mississippi House has voted to triple the penalties for committing violence against law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency responders. The 85-31 vote came Wednesday only after several black representatives talked about how they or their loved ones had been racially profiled or treated harshly by the... more »

WASHINGTON - Prosecutors have dropped felony rioting charges against three more people who were arrested after protesters broke windows and torched a limousine in Washington on Inauguration Day. That brings the total number of dropped cases to twelve. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia made the announcement... more »

BATON ROUGE – A popular Baton Rouge eatery banned a state district judge from dining at the establishment after a tiff over racial slurs.
The Advocate reported Wednesday afternoon, Judge Mike Erwin was banned from Sammy's Grill.
Erwin's accused of spouting off a word most people find offensive... more »

LAFAYETTE – Former Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco will be portrayed by Annette Bening in an upcoming cable show about Hurricane Katrina.
Bening will star in Katrina: American Crime Story, the latest installment in FX's immensely popular series. The show previously portrayed the O.J. Simpson saga.
According to reports,... more »

BATON ROUGE – A few dozen protesters stood outside the federal courthouse in downtown Friday afternoon, protesting presidential orders about immigrants and refugees.
Most protesters were holding signs out front of the post office, looking across the street toward the courthouse. A few others were on the courthouse side... more »

WASHINGTON - A lot of politics is about the basics, and in Congress that means answering the phone. By that measure, life on Capitol Hill in the Trump era is a struggle. Whether constituents are calling to request congressional flags, get help with a local issue - or, more likely,... more »